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Tuesday, 5 July 2016

2016 Rio Olympics: Brazil to distribute 9 million condoms

The Brazilian government has announced that it will distribute for free nine million ‘Amazon rainforest’condoms during the 2016 Rio Olympics which commences in August.

According to the Health Ministry, the effort is a push meant to encourage safe sex and also defend the Amazon rainforest.

The International Olympic Committee has said around 450,000 of the condoms will go to athletes and staff staying at Olympic village, according to Reuters.

The condoms are sustainably produced by Natex, a factory run by the state of Acre in the Amazon rainforest along Brazil's border with Bolivia.
"Our condom factory, aside from guaranteeing a fair price for the rubber, employs hundreds," rubber tapper Raimundo Mendes de Barros told Reuters. "It gives the world a product – the condom – that will be very present there in Rio, to fight disease and help with birth control."

The factory's condoms are often distributed by the Brazilian Health Ministry for major events, such as the Carnival of Brazil.

Olympic organizers have said that free condom dispensing machines will be available to athletes and will include roughly 300,000 male condoms and 100,000 female condoms in addition to 175,000 sachets of lubricant.